FA Chair Greg Clarke said that England players will wear poppies when they play Scotland on Remembrance Sunday next week despite a FIFA regulation "banning them from doing so," according to Jack de Menezes of the London INDEPENDENT. Clarke told ITV reporter Steve Scott that "there are plans in place" for the England players to wear poppies, with the 2018 World Cup qualifier due to take place on Armistice Day. Clarke said, "Of course we should wear poppies ... and that is our plan. There will be poppies at Wembley." The "defiant stand" goes against FIFA regulations which "outlaw nations wearing anything that can be construed as a political or religious statement" under the FIFA Equipment Regulations. Both the English and Scottish FAs have "contacted the governing body to request an exception to the rule." Both FAs have also inquired over what the "likely sanction will be" if they defy FIFA’s ruling, with the "threat of a points deduction a possibility." England currently leads Group F by two points and a small points deduction is "unlikely to have a major impact" on its campaign to reach the 2018 World Cup providing it is limited to one or two points, but Scotland "cannot afford to lose ground" as it sits in fourth and is a point behind both Lithuania and Slovenia (INDEPENDENT, 11/2).
'OUTRAGEOUS': The BBC reported U.K. PM Theresa May said that FIFA's apparent refusal to allow England and Scotland players to wear armbands featuring poppies is "outrageous." She said, "Before they start telling us what to do, they jolly well ought to sort their own house out. Our football players want to recognize and respect those who have given their lives for our safety and security -- I think it is absolutely right they should be able to do so." Speaking at Prime Minister's Questions, May said that the wearing of poppies was a matter for the English and Scottish FAs to resolve, but there was a "clear message" from the House of Commons that "we want our players to be able to wear those poppies." Former Culture, Media & Sport Secretary John Whittingdale MP said that the England team should wear poppies -- "even if a points deduction is possible." Whittingdale: "For [FIFA] to try and brand the poppy as a political symbol shows a total misunderstanding. I think there are a number of reasons why we are already profoundly unhappy with FIFA's behavior and conduct and this adds to that list" (BBC, 11/2).
'POLITICAL SYMBOL': In London, Richard Spillett reported the FIFA official enforcing a ban on England and Scotland players wearing poppies during an Armistice Day football match "is a Senegalese bureaucrat brought in to make the scandal-hit organisation look more transparent." FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura will attend a meeting at Wembley this week over the body's insistence that poppies designed to commemorate the fallen are a "political symbol." Samoura has issued FIFA's only response to "growing fury" in Britain over the decree, writing a letter in which she "drew attention to law four," which states that "political or religious messages" are banned from team shirts. Samoura "sparked anger" among some in FIFA when she was parachuted into the £1M ($1.2M)-a-year role by the organization's new president, Gianni Infantino, in May. She was handed the secretary general position "despite having no real experience in handling sport, having previously worked in a humanitarian role at the UN" (DAILY MAIL, 11/2).
